A/N You are all so amazing! Thanks so much for all the amazing reviews! Hey, if you guys like James whump, check out Ashley Jordan's story "Scarecrow", it's amazing!
Random fact: I have 31 giant Big Time Rush posters, and a dozen of them are 2-sided. And I have well over 40 pin-ups. Oh how I love them so. Ok, on with the whump! (uuhhh I don't have time to check for typos right now so ignore any that you see)
"Logan," Kendall breathed out softly as he entered the small room that James led him too. His tiny, pale friend was curled up on his side, sleeping peacefully. His normally flawless white skin was marred with painful looking red marks. One on his neck, a couple on his arms… There were so few, but too many. It was an ugly reminder of what happened last night. And even though he wasn't horribly burned, his face was a chalky shade of gray and puffs of oxygen were fed to him through tubes that ran through his nose. He looked terribly ill, and Kendall only hoped that it looked worse than it really was.
"He's ok bro," James assured him, placing a heavy hand on the blonde's quivering shoulders. James could see how much strength it was taking Kendall just to stand, so the taller boy led him to a chair and sat him down before tiredly sitting down himself and smiling at Carlos, who was half-awake and clutching a teddy bear to his chest.
"Carlitos, hey buddy," Kendall said fondly, reaching over to ruffle the small boy's black curls. Carlos smiled and leaned into his big brother's touch.
"Kendall, you're awake. I thought you'd never come to see me," Carlos croaked. His voice sounded just as rough and painful as James' did.
Kendall smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I guess I was just really tired. Did my mom buy you that?" Kendall asked, gesturing to the brown teddy bear that was snug in the crook of the Latino's arm.
"No, James brought it for me," Carlos replied, and Kendall grinned and mouthed a "thank you" to James. The blonde was proud that he could always rely on James to fill in for him when he couldn't perform his brotherly duties.
Carlos suddenly yawned loudly. He was mellowed out from the low dose of pain medication he was put on, and he was getting very sleepy.
"Go to sleep, 'Los," Kendall said, gently but firmly. "I'm here now. James and I will be here when you wake up, too."
Carlos gave Kendall a weak smile and settled down into his pillow. "'Kay. Night, guys."
"Night, Carlos," the 2 taller boys chided. They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, watching their young friends sleep peacefully.
"He's going to take it the hardest," James whispered, so low that Kendall could barely hear his broken voice. The brunette nodded towards Carlos when Kendall gave him a questioning look. The blonde caught on and his stomach sank. James was right. When Carlos was completely healed and off pain medicine, how in the world were they to explain to the innocent boy that his swirly slide and his helmet and all his hockey trophies were gone forever?
Kendall's shoulder's quaked when the thought hit him, heavy as a brick wall.
It was all gone.
The life they had worked so hard to make for themselves was gone in a puff of smoke. Their home was utterly destroyed. He knew not one piece of furniture could be salvaged, and he hadn't even seen the aftermaths yet. How could anything survive such a fire? How did they survive it? They should be dead right now, just a thin layer of ashes among the remains of their prized possessions.
"Kendall, dude, are you alright?" James asked when small, perfectly shaped tear drops fell from the corners of Kendall's sorrowful eyes. Kendall took a shaky breath and wiped his good hand over his damp face.
"Y-yeah, James. I just… Last night really scared me man," Kendall admitted, keeping his voice quiet so Logan and Carlos wouldn't be able to hear. He would never tell the smaller boys what he was about to say to James. No, he was meant to protect Logan and Carlos, but when the times were always tough, he could always tell James anything. The brunette was surprisingly mature. His conceited nature was nothing more than an act. Underneath all of his Cuda spray and tanning lotion, and even all that drive and passion, was the most understanding, kind person Kendall ever met. Sure, James was dramatic and sometimes clueless, but that just made him endearingly innocent. Kendall had a habit of bottling his emotions, but James was the only one that held the key to open the stubborn boy up.
"It scared me too Kendall," James said. Hazel eyes concentrated on Kendall's distressed features. "Kendall, what's wrong? Talk to me, bro."
"We should have perished in that fire, James. We should be burnt beyond recognition right now," Kendall said. His emerald orbs showed so much emotion, it was almost overwhelming for James. The brunette had never seen Kendall so upset in his life.
"We could have perished in that fire," James corrected. "But we didn't. We made it through, just like we make it through everything life throws at us. You were so calm and so level headed. Carlos and Logan were too afraid to move- heck, I admit I was too afraid to move. But you got us out of their alive. You stayed conscious just to make sure we got out of that apartment. You literally walked through fire last night, Kendall. It was amazing. You were a hero, dude."
Kendall blushed. He had been replaying the events of last night in his head over and over, and he never once would have thought of himself as a hero. In his mind, he had nearly gotten his friends killed. It was only a lucky break that the firefighter got to them just in time.
"Hey, you shouldn't be thinking like that man," James continued. "It will tear you apart."
Kendall nodded, than cracked a smidgen of a smile. "Where is this all coming from? Is this the same boy who bought a cow for a school project talking?"
James shrugged. "I don't know, I guess all that smoke messed with my brain or something. And for your information, I didn't buy the cow, Carlos and I stole it."
Kendall snorted, than cringed. Laughing was quite painful. "You stole a cow? How is that possible, James. It's not like you can just sneak into a farm with a rummage sack and pack a 1000 pound animal up and run away."
"Hey, it's amazing what you can do with a rope, a skateboard, and Carlos," James said seriously. Kendall broke into a fit of giggles, because giggling didn't hurt quite as much as outright laughing did, and James followed.
"What ever happened to that cow anyway?" Kendall wondered. The last he heard of the giant animal was that he was being chased down the freeway by a jammie-clad James and Carlos.
"Enh, Carlos said he 'set him free'," James said, making air quotations with his fingers. "But in Carlos, language, who knows what that means."
"Oh," Kendall said, pondering that for a moment, than going into another giggle fest because the poor cow was probably still roaming around the city, looking for its farm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BTRISFREAKINGAMAZINGSLURP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mrs. Knight stood outside of the closed door with a bag of hamburgers in her hand, listening to the strained laughter coming from her boys inside of the room. Even though the laughter was laced with coughs, it was still such a sweet sound to her ears. Her boys were alright. They were shaken up and scared, but they were alive and well. When she was driving home with Katie last night she could see the smoke from nearly a mile away, and as she drove closer and closer, the panic got more and more intense, fear rising to the throat because for some reason she had just known that it was her apartment, with her angels inside of it, that was burning.
And she had been right. By the intensity of the fire, she had assumed the worst before she even got out of her car. She had broken down into tears of relief and had to force herself not to faint when she heard Kendall call out her name. He wasn't dead, but it was a close call. And when she ran outside because a fireman had announced that it would be impossible to enter the fire and retrieve the boys so they had to rescue them from a window, her heart had swelled with joy and pride. Even from such a distance, she could see her son trying to save Carlos and Logan, and then he swung James' body over his shoulder and climbed down after the firefighter… It was like something out of a movie scene. It was beautiful. She had the bravest, most amazing son she could ever ask for.
Mrs. Knight felt hands grip her shoulders and squeeze them, waking her up from her daze. She gasped in surprise and smiled when she looked over her shoulder and saw David behind her, giving her an encouraging smile.
"You ready to go in?" He asked in his gruff voice. She nodded and took his hand, and he opened the door for her.
"Babies!" The womanly mother exclaimed when she walked into the room. Kendall and James looked up from their silly conversation and burst into grins.
"Mom!" Kendall cried, outstretching his arms as if he was a little boy again, practically begging for one of her famous, comforting hugs.
"Hi honey," she said softly, holding Kendall to her chest and running a hand through his golden locks.
"Hi, Mama K!" James said, mimicking Kendall and holding out his arms. Mrs. Knight smiled and hugged James next, rocking him gently. She started asking questions a mile a minute, about how they were feeling and if they slept well and what kind of burgers they wanted. Kendall watched and listened happily to the familiar sounds, until he noticed that his mother had not come alone. David stood at the door, watching them with his piercing green eyes. Kendall's stomach immediately felt at unease when he saw the man. For some reason, David always frazzled Kendall's nerves. He just gave off the weirdest vibes.
"Kendall, how are you feeling little man?" David asked when his son made eye contact with him. Kendall's face soured and he looked away. After everything that happened, all Kendall wanted was some alone time with his family, and David was the last person he wanted to see right now.
Kendall blinked when he felt a rough, unfamiliar hand against his forehead, and he flinched away when he realized that David was feeling his forehead. Kendall hated the feeling of David touching him. It was uncomfortable and strange to him.
"Are you alright buddy? You look kind of pale," David said. Kendall subconsciously scooted closer to his mother, who sat next to Kendall on the large armchair, unpacking the bag of burgers.
"That's probably only because I nearly died last night," Kendall said bitterly, and butterflies swam in his stomach when David went over to Carlos and Logan and felt their foreheads. It made Kendall feel downright sick when the man touched his little brothers. He did not like it one bit.
"Kendall, manners," Mrs. Knight mumbled. She removed the pickles from a hamburger and handed it to her son. "There you go, baby. No pickles, just how you like it. David, are Logan and Carlos running fevers, honey?"
Kendall groaned and pushed away his food. There went his appetite.
"I can't tell, I think Logan is feeling a little warm," David answered, his hand stroking the small boy's cheek. Kendall had to sustain a growl. He wanted to rip his mangy hands off of Logan's delicate skin. David shouldn't be touching them like that anyway, that was his mother's job.
"Oh, I'm sure he's fine. Logan always gets a little over heated after a lot of excitement," Mrs. Knight said. She left Kendall's side and pushed away Logan's bangs gently so she could rest her hand on his forehead.
"Yeah, he's fine," she confirmed. "I'm going to wake them up so they can eat, it's been ages since they ate properly. Can you wake up Carlos for me?"
"I'll do it!" Kendall said with his mouth full of hamburger. He jumped to his feet a little too quickly and dizzily cut David's path off as he made a beeline for Carlos' bed. He shook the Latino gently until sleep-dazed, puppy dog eyes fluttered open.
"Hey Carlos, how are you doing?" Kendall asked sweetly, sitting next to his friend. Carlos rubbed at his eyes and yawned.
"M'tired," he mumbled. Kendall smiled and patted his side.
"Are you hungry? Mom brought burgers."
"Mama K is here?" Carlos asked, his voice livening up a little bit. He sat up and greeted his surrogate mom with a huge grin and a hug.
"Hi, honey! I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some burgers."
"I'm starving!" Carlos said while un-wrapping his burger wildly. He stuffed nearly half of it into his mouth at one time.
"Carlos, slow down their little guy," David said with a chuckle, patting the Latino's back. Kendall rolled his eyes. He wished this guy would just leave already.
"Ow!" Carlos cried in a high pitched whine, tears immediately welling up in his eyes. Kendall gasped and gently grabbed Carlos' arm.
"What's wrong, what happened 'Los?" Kendall asked frantically.
Mrs. Knight suddenly hissed in sympathy. "Oh, his back has a couple of small burns, David," she said. David recoiled his hand immediately and Kendall shot the man daggers with his eyes.
"Just don't touch him," Kendall warned angrily. Mrs. Knight stared at her son in surprise.
"Kendall, mind your manners. I'm not going to tell you again," she said sternly. Kendall just scowled.
It took a couple of minutes, but Logan finally woke up and joined in on dinner. Kendall merely watched them. He wasn't hungry anymore in the least bit, and several more minutes passed before he realized something was missing.
"Hey mom, where's Katie?" Kendall asked.
"Oh, she's with Gustavo at his mansion right now. He'll be bringing her over in a couple hours to tell you guys good night. I thought she had enough of being in the hospital for a while. Ok, everyone finish up your burgers and James and Kendall, get on back to bed."
"Can I stay in here with Logan and Carlos?" Kendall asked. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Logan yet, and he really wanted to make sure his timid friend was ok.
"No, honey, the doctor wants you to stay in your own bed tonight and get well. You shouldn't even have come in here in the first place."
"But mom, I really want to stay in here for now," Kendall said, drooping his green eyes sadly.
"I'm sorry baby, but you need to go lie down. You can come back in here tomorrow morning," Mrs. Knight said.
"But mom-"
"Kendall, your mother said no!" A deep voice suddenly barked, making all 4 boys jump. Carlos' lower lip trembled in surprise at the mean tone that David possessed. "I don't want to hear you arguing with your mother, do you understand me?"
Kendall just pouted, too stunned to talk back. He didn't want to give David another reason to snap again and scare Carlos, so any snide remarks that popped into his brain he held inside.
"Come on Ken, let's go back to the room," James said protectively, holding out a helpful arm. Kendall gave David one last look and let James help him to his feet, than followed him out of the room without even saying good night to his mom.
A/N I hope that was ok! Next chapter will deal with some new living arrangements, heehee. And the boys will be visiting the ruined apartment. Sad day So stay tuned for more angst, whump and fluff! Thanks for reading! Remember to check out Ashley Jordan's stuff and enjoy the new episode of BTR! Love you all so much please review :D